Today we’ll look at the definition of precedent, an important concept in understanding how the law works.
Precedent refers to a court decision that is considered as authority for deciding future cases involving identical or similar facts and similar legal issues. The goal is to ensure that people in similar situations are treated the same.
If the facts or issues of a case differ from those in a previous case, the previous case can not be “binding” precedent.

The Supreme Court has said that “questions which merely lurk on the record, neither brought to the attention of the court nor ruled upon, are not to be considered as precedent”

Therefore, a prior decision serves as precedent only for issues and facts that the court explicitly considered in reaching its decision. That is a critical point.
Related…Just because a court ‘says’ something in an opinion does not make it binding precedent. The precedent is limited to the specific facts and issues decided in the case.
And when there is precedent it is only for lower courts in the “chain of command” of the precedent setting court. For example, the Supreme Court of Texas does not have to follow the Supreme Court of Florida but both have to follow the US Supreme court.
Likewise, a federal district court in Alabama, does not need to follow a federal district court in Wyoming, as they are located in different federal circuits. We’ll talk more about the federal court systems in a future episode. For now, lets remember that precedent is important but it may also have limitations depending on the court rendering the decision.

That’s today’s legal minute. Please share and subscribe.
Have a great day and stay out of trouble.